Please tell me he is a Sex Offender or at least an Embezzler

Last week a former member of Shas, Haim Amsalem became a persona non grata in the Haredi world.

 

Amsalem stated that “Israeli society agreed back in [David] Ben-Gurion’s time to the ‘Torah is his faith’ exemption from IDF service for 400 Torah scholars. They [secular Israelis] never thought or dreamed the numbers would reach today’s enormous quantity that’s gone beyond all proportions. They say we have become a burden on them? The truth is we have become a burden on ourselves. We’ve abandoned the field and let them disparage us, and call our students ignoramuses. We’ve made them hate the Torah.”

He furthered his point by emphasising that “study in a kollel is not a goal, but merely a means of training the next generation of rabbis and scholars. Whoever isn’t built for this, it’s a waste of his time. Earning a living for himself and his family is more important than anything else.”

Since making these remarks the Haredi world has not only disassociated themselves with Amsalem but labelled him as a ‘ben Amalek’, ‘roshoh’  and  destroyed his children’s chances of marrying within the Haredi community.

When I heard that Haim Amsalem had been admonished by his community who also happen to be Jews, I thought that he had committed severe sex offences, embezzlement or fraud. It breaks my heart to see a man’s communal life destroyed by speaking the truth. It is beyond me how Jerry Yechiel Brauner and other Haredi sex offenders have not been castigated by the community, yet a man who speaks his mind is destroyed. Why do the Haredim commemorate Tisha b’Av if this is the way they behave? Weren’t the Betai Mikdash destroyed because of sinat chinam?

(Haim Amsalem, if you have any daughters please put them in touch with me. I am 22, Modern Orthodox, obviously my life is more complex but I will explain in our future correspondence)

A satirical piece about the Haredi world or is it based solely on fact?

May I have an iPad?

Definition: Schnorrer (שנאָרער; also spelled shnorrer) is a Yiddish term meaning ‘begger’. The word Schnorrer also describes a person who frequently asks for little things like cigarettes or little sums of money, without offering a return.

I have no doubt that they are good people. People who want to provide for their family, community and yeshivos. However, they continually frustrate me. This is not because I refuse to give them money or that they refuse to speak to my mother, who raised beautiful, dedicated yidden, but rather because they do not understand the Modern Orthodox world.

Let me explain to you the typical week of a schnorrer who comes from overseas to Australia.

Day 1: Typically a Thursday. Settle in. Receive the list of the massive donors. Their palms become sweaty and cheeks flush due to the excitement of a lot of money in a short space of time. Who said money never comes easy?

Day 2: Collection of the big bucks.

Shabbos Kodesh: Speaks for itself.

Day 3: Sunday: The Modern Orthodox ‘donors’. The Mistake. If these schnorrers understood the Modern Orthodox world, they would understand that failure is inevitable on a Sunday. Lets take a step back. Saturday night: drinking, clubbing, bed at 4am. We are not going to be functioning at 9am! Schnorrers please stay away. My ears are ringing and the last thing I want is to hear a doorbell and behind the door a guy who vaguely looks like Gandalf.